A Rotating Bus Turntable Lurks Beneath A Grimy Times Square Hotel

One of the joys of living in a big city is finding out how much of the city survives from years gone by, just beneath the tinsel of renovation. That's part of the reason why I found this old rotating bus turntable beneath a dirty Times Square hotel so fascinating.

ScoutingNY always finds great stuff, and this new discovery is no different. The turntable still sits under the Hotel Carter (named one of the dirtiest hotels in America in 2009 and 2011, no word on 2010, maybe they had a really great maid that year or something), when it was part of a bus depot dating back to 1930. Known as the Central Union Bus Terminal, it was the biggest enclosed bus station in New York.

The busses would drive down a ramp and onto the turntable, which would rotate and then deposit the bus into the correct berth. The turntable, which I'm kind of obsessing over, still exists but it doesn't appear to be in working order.

The Central Union Bus Terminal couldn't compete with the bigger Port Authority Bus Terminal nearby, and closed down in 1957 to be turned into an underground garage for the hotel.

There are plenty more pictures over at ScoutingNY, including the fine details of the waiting room which haven't been covered up, and beautiful pictures of the Terminal's heyday. Go check it out!